Notre Dame players take pictures of The Coaches' Trophy during Media Day for the BCS National Championship college football game Saturday, Jan. 5, 2013, in Miami. Notre Dame faces Alabama in Monday's championship game.(AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

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CLEVELAND, Ohio -- By kickoff Monday, the BCS title game matchup between the dominant football program of today and the most famous of yesterday will likely culminate in predictions so grand that Joe Robbie-Pro Player-Dolphin-Land Shark-Sun Life Stadium should roll out a velvet field in order to appropriately host the Crimson Tide and Fighting Irish.

This is, of course, a direct result of the sports multimedia-industrial complex, which might be slightly more benign than the military-industrial version, but is highly effective in reducing our collective attention span to about 13 minutes. Which is why the ESPN promos will trumpet Notre Dame as the No. 1 team, even though Vegas has Bama as a 10-point favorite.

Monday night, we'll be liveblogging the title game directly from Miami Gardens. But for now, we provide some historical perspective on the long-range paths the two teams have taken to this moment. In another post we'll offer some matchup observations.

Who they were

Alabama and Notre Dame haven't met since 1987, a 37-6 victory by the Irish that extended their dominance over the Tide to 5-1. The Irish were in the prime of the Lou Holtz era, while the Tide was still feeling its way through an extended mourning period following the death of Bear Bryant after the 1982 season.

Ray Perkins (32-15-1 in four seasons) and Bill Curry (26-10 in three) were doomed to be found lacking in Dixie. Legends who succumb shortly after their farewell -- especially with five national titles -- tend to do that to their successors.

Even today, a thick Southern drawl and a houndstooth hat stop traffic in Tuscaloosa.

Bryant on playing to your best

The most famous Alabama-ND meeting was the first one, when a national title swung on the 1973 Sugar Bowl. It was three seasons since Bryant had asked Southern California to come to the South to open the 1970 season, and the 42-21 thumping of the Tide in Birmingham opened the eyes of segregationists who rapidly made a racial exception when it came to black athletes.

Meanwhile, Ara Parseghian had long since cemented his place in South Bend coaching annals alongside Knute Rockne and Frank Leahy. It was Parseghian who helped change the school administration's bowl game ban -- the Irish avoided postseason games from 1926-69 -- but the Irish were six years removed from their last title when they met the Crimson Tide on New Year's Eve 1973 in New Orleans.

"Look at the possibilities," gushed Times-Picayune columnist Dave Lagarde, "Alabama undefeated and untied; Notre Dame undefeated and untied; North against South; Catholic against Protestant; Parseghian against Bryant; the Bear against the Pope."

In a matchup between Alabama's wishbone and Notre Dame's Wing-I, the Irish's willingness to be bold in the final minutes while hanging onto a one-point lead became one of the college game's iconic moments.

So dramatic was the game that Birmingham Post-Herald writer Herb Kirby battled through the six lead changes and produced his game story from the Sugar Bowl pressbox, then suffered a heart attack and died.

Historical note: This was the last season that the UPI poll ignored the bowl results. Alabama was still able to claim a national title from one organization because of it.

A year later, Bryant brought the Tide to the Orange Bowl undefeated and No. 1 in the UPI poll -- No. 2 by AP to Oklahoma, which was ineligible for a bowl game due to NCAA sanctions. Notre Dame, at 9-2, was not a title contender, but still claimed a 13-11 victory in Parseghian's final game as coach.

It would be 38 years before the two teams would play again with so much at stake.

Saban attempted humility after the unveiling following the 2009 season: "This statue's going to represent what that team accomplished," he said. "Their names are all going to be on the national championship plaque in the sidewalk so that someday their children can come back and say, 'See, my dad was part of that team. My dad did something special for the university that will live on forever.'"

• the season-ending triumph over Matt Barkley-less USC, the believers throw back the domination of Oklahoma in Norman and Holtz's rapturous love on ESPN.

OK, maybe not so much the last part.

Monday isn't Bryant vs. Parseghian. Saban is literally monumental in Alabama football, but will never be bigger than Bear. Kelly has replaced sideline tantrums with leadership that reflected in his team's resolve in the biggest moments, but is a far cry from Ara.

But these two programs rich in history and triumph give the BCS its brightest starpower in recent memory. And that's not bad.

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